India’s 3-0 home victory over South Africa is another indication of the growing stature of an improving team that can now go on and win Tests anywhere in the world, according to captain Virat Kohli.
Kohli’s side beat South Africa inside three days on turning wickets in Mohali and Nagpur before thumping the world’s top- ranked team by 337 runs at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday.
“Test cricket has always been one format in which we have been wanting to do well,” he told reporters after India climbed to number two in the world.
“I think it all began in Australia for us, the way we played there. We showed a lot of character even in our (2-0) defeat,” said Kohli who took over as captain Down Under this year following Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement from tests.
“It was never one-sided defeats. It was always being at the heel of the opposition knowing that we could catch them at any stage.
“That gave us a lot of belief as a Test team, that we can do this, we can be a champion team, we can play well around the world and play well as a unit.”
Since Kohli’s full-time appointment as captain, India have registered their first test series win in 23 years in Sri Lanka before handing South Africa their first away series defeat in nine years.
“We have carried forward that confidence from Australia and we took it to Sri Lanka. We set out a few plans, a few rules and a few things the team need to do in order to do well,” said Kohli.
The 27-year-old has resented talk about the turning pitches used for the series against South Africa, even after the Nagpur track, where 40 wickets tumbled in three days, was rated as ‘poor’ by the match referee.
After the third Test lasted all five days, Kohli again criticised the media.
“Hopefully you guys got the answer today … We always believed we can anywhere in the world and can play well against any team,” he said.
